Life and music of Eelam music composer Kannan
In the history of Eelam Tamil, there are many people who have contributed to the development of various fields such as Tamil, religion, art, literature, politics and society. Mr. Kannan lived in the twentieth century and made his mark on the Eelam land in this century.
Mr. Kannan was born in Nachimar Kovil, Jaffna, on 29 March 1943. He wanted to finish his schooling and engage himself in music full time. The idea of forming a band went deep into his mind. The context of his thinking also developed. In the sixties the attendance of South Indian artists was limited by the government. This created a situation where South Indian artists could not go as a group and camp in Sri Lanka. This situation was very favorable to Kannan and he also tried hard to form a band. He told the media on Tuesday how he started the band.
At that time a Dinakaran festival was held in Jaffna by the ‘Dinakaran’ music magazine. This is the tenth consecutive day of the festival in Jaffna where prizes were awarded to the best advertiser who will be featured in the commercial. I also attended that commercial ad float. The artists and I, who came together for the band to create a house-like structure in a vehicle, performed our first concert as we floated into that vehicle house. It was very well received by the people and gave us the first prize. The event was a solid start for our band.
Mr. Nadarajah, who was also the announcer and presenter of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation during the event, was asked to produce a melody. We performed ten songs at the event, composing light music in Carnatic music style centered on the cultural background of Jaffna. The event was well received not only by the people of Jaffna but also by the people of Southern Sri Lanka. This gave him the opportunity to work as an Eelam melody organizer for the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. So I conducted the band as I was in Colombo and our band got the name “Kannan Nesam” band because “Nesam” joined me.
Eelam melodies, pop music, rock music, English music, South Indian screen music, devotional songs etc. were played by our band. When the LTTE erupted in the 90s, Eelam music evolved into liberation songs or war-born songs. Kannan’s contribution in this dimension is also gracious. One cannot be ignorant of the song ‘Vellinila vilakedrum neram’ It may be recalled that Kannan also composed the background music for the unreleased short film ‘1996’. Musician Kannan. Thus Kannan’s musical journey continues for three decades.
Sayidharsan, the son of musician Kannan, has absorbed his father’s old age, infiltrated the world of modern technology computer and brought the melody into the new world.
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